Lord Rooker: The conversion factors published in Defra's Guidelines for Company Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions are currently 0.11 kilogram/carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre for long-haul travel, and0.15 kilogramme/carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre for short-haul. For the purposes of the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, a multiplier of x2 is applied to the estimated totals to take into account the additional climate impact of non-CO2 emissions at altitude. These conversion factors are being reviewed and new figures will be announced soon.

Lord Rooker: The UK Government have consistently provided voluntary financial contributions in support of the clean development mechanism (CDM) in line with the Kyoto scale. For 2006, the UK provided $740,000. With current pledges paid and a levy on credits being taken to cover administrative expenses of the mechanism, it is expected that no further such contributions will be needed.
	The Government are on track to meet their Kyoto target and are therefore not intending to purchase credits from the CDM for compliance. However, the Government are purchasing credits from CDM projects to offset emissions from air travel undertaken in the course of official business. These will be sourced from small-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The Government are facilitating involvement of businesses in the CDM market by approving the participation of companies not only from the UK but further afield. The list of 183 approved projects up until November 2006, which covers a range of different mitigation activities, is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/internat/kyotomech/documents/cdm-dna-approvals.pdf.
	The CDM market has grown enormously in the past year, with an estimated 1,300 projects and1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the pipeline to 2012. The UK is the major private sector participant in the CDM market, with UK companies participating in some 28 per cent of currently registered CDM projects and with an estimated $2 billion of private funds invested in London.

Lord Rooker: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has developed a methodology for calculating the relative climate effects of different greenhouse gases. This provides the relative contribution of a tonne emission of each gas, relative to the effect ofa tonne emission of carbon dioxide integrated over a fixed time period. A 100-year time horizon has been chosen in view of the relatively long time-scale for addressing climate change. This factor is known as the global warming potential (GWP).
	GWPs are given in the table below for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These were published by the IPCC in its third assessment report.
	
		
			 Gas GWP 
			 Carbon dioxide 1 
			 Methane 23 
			 Nitrous oxide 296 
		
	
	The GWP values used for calculating national greenhouse gas emissions reported to the United Nations framework convention on climate change are by international agreement taken from IPCC's second assessment report and differ slightly from the values shown in the table.
	Taking account of GWPs and the level of emissions of different gases, the UK greenhouse gas inventory shows that in 2004 carbon dioxide accounted for about 84 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Methane and nitrous oxide contributed about 8 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Research conducted by the Hadley Centre takes account of the detailed effects of these gases on the climate including the interactions between the gases, the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere.

Lord Adonis: The only available source of social class and socio-economic information on HE students comes originally from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Socio-economic data are currently derived from the information given by applicants on parental occupation using the standard occupational classification 2000. For entry up to and including 2001, social class data were derived from parental occupation using the standard occupational classification 1990. The national statistics socio-economic classification (NS-SEC) was introduced in 2001 to replace social class. The two classifications are not directly comparable.
	The parental education information is given voluntarily, and as such a proportion of applicants have their NS-SEC recorded as "unknown". Socio-economic data are handed over to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) each year to be included in its student record. This information is then used to inform a performance indicator, which is based on only those entrants with known NS-SEC. The social class and socio-economic class performance indicators are shown in the table.
	
		
			 Proportion of English-domiciled full-time first degree entrants to university from the lower social classes/lower socio-economic classes 
			  Lower social classes (IIIM, IV, V) Lower socio-economic classes (4-7) 
			 1997-98 24.7 n/a 
			 1998-99 24.9 n/a 
			 1999-2000 25.1 n/a 
			 2000-01 25.3 n/a 
			 2001-02 25.5 n/a 
			 2002-03 n/a 27.9 
			 2003-04 n/a 28.2 
			 2004-05 n/a 27.9 
			 n/a: not available 
			 The socio-economic classification was introduced in 2002-03 to replace the social class groupings. The two classifications are not directly comparable. 
			 Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency Performance Indicators 
		
	
	In addition, the department draws directly on UCAS application and acceptance data on the proportions of applications and acceptances from lower NS-SECs.
	The Youth Cohort Study (YCS) is a series of longitudinal surveys that contacts a sample of an academic year-group of young people in the spring following completion of compulsory education and again one and/or two years later. The YCS is not used to determine the social class background of students entering higher education, but it can be used to look at the education and labour market experience, training and qualifications of young people from different socio-economic groups.

Lord Triesman: The Government have not provided assistance to the Kurdish regional government (KRG) for the protection of the Christian minorities in the region. However, we continue to raise the protection of minority groups with the Government of Iraq, political and religious leaders, and members of civil society. My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary highlighted the importance of ensuring the security and welfare of Iraq's minorities with Prime Minister al-Maliki when she met him in September 2006. Our missions in Baghdad and Kirkuk have regular contacts with minority communities.
	The Iraqi and draft Kurdish constitutions contain provisions which guarantee democratic principles, rights and freedoms for all individuals, including the freedom of worship. In his inaugural speech to the Kurdistan National Assembly on 14 June 2005, KRG President Masoud Barzani said:
	"Turkomen and Chaldo-Assyrians are our respected brothers and sisters and we will do whatever is within our capability and authority for the sake of their well-being. We all live together on this land. Our destiny, our joys and sorrows, are common. We consider ourselves their advocates and defenders of their rights".

Baroness Amos: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that since 2003, at least 1.6 million people have been displaced by violence in Iraq, most of them to Jordan (700,000), Syria (500,000 to 600,000), Saudi Arabia (100,000) and Lebanon (20,000 to 40,000). Since the February 2006 Samarra bombing, more than 425,000 have been displaced as a result of the increased sectarian violence.
	The UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) is currently conducting an assessment of these people's needs. The UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) are working closely together in the region and monitor the situation from their offices in Jordan and Syria. Their support includes undertaking assessments to identify locations, numbers and needs of vulnerable people, acting as an advocate for Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers, resettlement, supporting education programmes, and providing emergency medical services and meals to extremely vulnerable groups such as orphans and women at risk.
	Since 2003, DfID has provided more than$100 million to humanitarian agencies working with Iraqis displaced by the violence, both within Iraq and in neighbouring countries. We will continue to work with these agencies and other international partners, as well as the Government of Iraq, to ensure that the needs of displaced Iraqis are met.

Lord Dykes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will hold discussions with the Government of the United States about the decision in 2005 to allow Israel to take territory in and around the Gush Enumim settlement block east of East Jerusalem, in light of new evidence that these areas are still legally owned by Palestinian citizens.

Lord Triesman: We welcome the mutual ceasefire in Gaza between the Palestinians and Israel. We are concerned at the occasional firing of Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel but we welcome the public commitments of Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas to make it work. We continue to call on Israel to ensure that its actions are in accordance with international law. We are concerned by Israel's military actions and the effect this has on civilians. We were particularly concerned by the incident in Beit Hanoun. On8 November my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary issued a statement expressing our concerns. Israel has suspended its policy of punitive house demolitions. Israel does, however, destroy property on the grounds of security concerns.
	We remain concerned at the restrictions of movement of Palestinians in and between Gaza and the West Bank. We continue to call on both sides to implement the agreement on movement and access in full. We also call on Israel to route the barrier on or behind the Green Line. The routing of the barrier on occupied land is illegal. We continue to raise these issues with the Israeli Government.

Lord Truscott: The investigation of competition cases, and the approach adopted in doing so, is a matter forthe Office of Fair Trading. I have therefore asked the office to provide a response to the point raised by the noble Lord. This is reproduced below.
	The Office of Fair Trading receives around 1,200 competition complaints each year. It cannot pursue all of these complaints and thus uses a set of published criteria to assist in prioritising those cases that it should take forward. These criteria are used to help the OFT judge how best to use its limited resources; maximising its impact for the benefit of UK consumers. The most recent set of criteria were published in October 2006, but related criteria have been in use since autumn 2004.
	Subject to strategic questions around the best mix of cases for the OFT to pursue (including whether the OFT is itself best placed to pursue a particular matter), the OFT's prioritisation criteria for competition cases are set out in the following six steps:
	an estimate of the direct consumer benefit that would result from intervention—or, in other words, the consumer harm that would be reduced/removed by taking action;deterrent effect—including any estimate of the wider consumer detriment reduced/removed as a result of deterrence;any aggravating or mitigating factors;the precedent, policy or profile value of the particular case;an estimate of the OFT resources required to achieve the desired outcome in the case; andan estimate of the likelihood of success.
	Any predation case, whether involving national or local firms, would be assessed against these criteria and a decision reached on whether OFT action was warranted as a matter of administrative priority. These criteria permit the OFT to take forward all forms of predation cases, whether involving national or local firms. For example, a "local" predation case might not be rated highly on step 1 of the above criteria but might rate higher on some other criteria, in particular deterrence or precedent value. Equally, a "national" case may be rated highly on step 1 (for example, because of the greater number of consumers affected), but then less well on other steps.

Lord Davies of Oldham: All roadshow venues and locations for the 2012 roadshow were agreed in conjunction with the London 2012 nations and regions group and regional stakeholders. Venues were selected to ensure that there was a wide and diverse coverage of events and locations from within each region in England and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As well as all four capital cities and other major towns, the roadshow visited 2012 competition venues, sporting events, venues with special significance for the Olympic or Paralympic movement, cultural venues and tourist attractions.
	A number of events were held in major regional centres in order to be accessible to as many people as possible. Guests from across a much wider area than single constituencies were invited and attended these events.
	The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport invited every MP whose constituency was visited to join the event as well as inviting the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Olympic spokesmen to visit the roadshow at any convenient point.
	In total, the roadshow visited 62 constituencies, of which 37 were Labour-held seats, 12 were Conservative-held seats, five were Liberal Democrat-held seats, one was a Plaid Cymru-held seat, one was a Scottish National Party-held seat, two were Social Democratic and Labour Party-held seats, three were Democratic Unionist Party-held seats and one was a Ulster Unionist Party-held seat. A list of the constituencies is shown below.
	
		
			 City of London & Westminster Cardiff Central 
			 Vauxhall Swansea West 
			 Hornsey & Wood Green Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire 
			 West Ham Caernarfon 
			 Beckenham Wrexham 
			 Wimbledon Sheffield Central 
			 Islington Leeds Central 
			 North Birmingham, Perry Barr Kingston upon Hull East 
			 Birmingham, Ladywood Darlington 
			 Stratford-on-Avon Sunderland North 
			 Dudley South Newcastle upon Tyne Central 
			 Ludlow Edinburgh North & Leith 
			 Leicester South Perth and North Perthshire 
			 Loughborough Aberdeen 
			 Nottingham South North Stirling 
			 Derby South Glasgow Central 
			 Brentwood & Ongar Glasgow South 
			 Broxbourne Foyle 
			 North East Cambridgeshire South Antrim 
			 Milton Keynes East Antrim 
			 North East Milton Keynes Belfast South 
			 South West Aylesbury North Down 
			 Beaconsfield Belfast North 
			 Brighton, Pavilion Dumfries & Galloway 
			 South Dorset Westmoreland & Lonsdale 
			 Tiverton & Honiton Preston 
			 Plymouth, Sutton Blackburn 
			 Bath Rossendale & Darwen 
			 Bristol West Stretford & Urmston 
			 Newport East Manchester Central 
			 Newport West Liverpool, Riverside

Lord Davies of Oldham: In 2005, the three most frequently reported contributory factors for 17 to19 year-old drivers of motor vehicles in fatal personal injury road accidents reported to the police were:
	
		
			 Loss of control 38 per cent 
			 Travelling too fast for conditions 22 per cent 
			 Learner or inexperienced driver 18 per cent 
		
	
	Information on contributory factors is not available prior to 2005.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The SIA's objectives for 2005-06 were published in the corporate and businessplan 2005-06 at www.thesia.org.uk/home/about_sia/publications/publications_financial.htm. Full information about the SIA's performance in meeting these objectives will be published in the annual report 2005-06.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Each annual intake on the elite coach programme is budgeted at £500,000 of exchequer funding at current prices. In 2006-07,two programmes are running resulting in a budget of £1 million. From 2007-08 onwards until 2012-13, with three programmes running concurrently, the budget will be £1.5 million per annum.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: UK Sport and Sport England have spent the following amounts on rate, rents and overheads during 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 to date.
	
		
			  2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 
			 £ millions Forecast Year to Date Actual Year to Date Actual Year to Date 
			 Rents   
			 UK Sport 0.45 0.22 0.45 0.22 0.45 0.22 
			 Sport England 1.847 0.945 1.778 0.843 2.264 1.113 
			 Rates   
			 UK Sport 0.17 0.09 0.17 0.09 0.14 0.07 
			 Sport England 0.129 0.02 0.252 0.04 0.44 0.118 
			 Overheads   
			 UK Sport* 4.83 2.06 4.65 1.75 4.18 1.67 
			 Sport England** 13.365 6.341 15.99 8.938 11.954 5.06 
			 *Corporate Services, Policy/Communications, CEO/Board, Grant Administration 
			 ** Corporate Services, Policy/Communications, CEO/Board 
		
	
	Sport England does not classify grant administration as an overhead as it is not considered a central support cost and is a function fulfilled by its regional and national teams.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The current valuations are:
	
		
			 National Centre Valuation £ millions 2006-07 Net Running Cost £ millions 
			 Lilleshall 27 3.4 
			 Bisham Abbey 15 1.1 
			 Holme Pierrepont N/A 1.4 
			 Freehold land and buildings were subject to a full valuation at31 March 2006. The appropriate basis of valuation for Bisham Abbey and Lilleshall is the depreciated replacement cost (DCR). The DCR basis required an open market valuation of the land for its existing use and an estimate of the gross current replacement cost of the buildings and other site works from which deductions are then made to allow for age, condition and obsolescence. 
			 There is not a valuation for Holme Pierrepont as Sport England does not own the freehold.

Baroness Amos: Under the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) is entitled to a 50 per cent share of revenues from oil production in southern Sudan. State governments in both northern and southern Sudan are also entitled to at least 2 per cent of revenues from oil produced in their state. An independent National Petroleum Commission, comprising representatives of the national Government, GOSS and oil-producing state governments, has been set up to monitor oil revenues sharing arrangements. Oil production and revenue data are also made available to the public on a monthly basis.
	Once oil revenues are transferred to GOSS or southern state governments, the funds are spent according to GOSS and state government financial regulations. These are presently being improved and strengthened with support from the international community. The World Bank manages a trust fund for southern Sudan to which a number of donors (including UK) have pledged a total of$103.9 million. The fund is in support of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and programming has been developed through consultation with the Government of Southern Sudan and a national needs assessment exercise. As manager of the fund, the World Bank carries the responsibility for ensuring that donor contributions are safeguarded. All projects approved for funding are subject to World Bank fiduciary regulations and procedures and it is our view that these are applied rigorously.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will set up an independent inquiry in accordance with the recommendations byMr Justice Girvan concerning the intervention by the Northern Ireland Office in the course of judicial review proceedings in Northern Ireland challenging the appointment of Bertha McDougal as Victims' Commissioner.